The Alpha Animal Protection Fund founder Kirill Potapov has set up an animal rehabilitation center in the Russian Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
“We currently have 13 wolves. We’ve got Canadian wolves, Arctic wolves and red wolves. Many come here from zoos, some we save from the wild,” lifelong wolf lover Potapov said.
They also have reindeer, sled dogs and a bear called Potapych. “He (Potapych) came from a petting zoo in Taganrog. They couldn’t keep him anymore and wanted to send him to the circus. An animal protection agency in Moscow found out and got in touch with me asking if I could home him and I didn’t turn them down, so we gave Potapych a home.”
“We try to treat those that are injured as a result of human activity and keep them here. If they can still live in their natural environment with those injuries, we released them back into the wild,” Potapov said.
Potapov works in advertising, but the drop in business during the coronavirus pandemic has given Potapov more time to dedicate to his passion. He spends his time translating literature on wolves from various languages into Russian and cooperating with similar centers in Russia and America.
Popatov eventually hopes to move the wolves to large forest enclosures, create a children’s camp dedicated to studying animals and a volunteer center for tourists.
Source: Reuters
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